Loew’s Uptown Theatre
Address: 764 Yonge Street
History
Loew’s Uptown at 764 Yonge Street […] was named the Uptown to distinguish it from the downtown theatre near Queen Street. The Uptown Theatre opened in September 1920 as a vaudeville and movie house. Marcus Loew, the financier who became a movie magnate, constructed the theatre. […] The architect for the Uptown was Thomas W. Lamb, who also designed Loew’s Yonge Street (Elgin) and the Pantages (Ed Mirvish) Theatres.
From the early days of movie theatres until the early 1960s […] films were shown continuously throughout the day, with patrons leaving and entering the theatre whenever the wished. As a result, large lobbies were unnecessary. The lobby at Loew’s Uptown was even smaller than that of the Pantages. However, similar to the Pantages, the theatre’s frontage on Yonge Street was narrow due to the expensive real estate prices on the city’s main street. To compensate, a grand hallway led from the street to the theatre auditorium, which was behind the shops that fronted on Yonge […]
The 2,800-seat theatre was the height of luxury, even containing a Japanese temple garden. The theatre was decorated in colours of rose, grey and gold, tastefully blended to create an atmosphere that some referred to as restrained elegance. Concealed diffused lighting illuminated the auditorium. intricately detailed plasterwork, decorative arches and classical columns ornamented the auditorium, lobby and entranceway.
A fire in the 1960s damaged the Uptown Theatre. […] In 1969, Nat Taylor [owner] closed it […[ to convert it into five separate cinemas. […] The Uptown 5 was one of the world’s first multiscreen complexes. The architects Mandel Sprachman and Marvin Giller were hired for the redesign. […] In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the city demanded the Uptown be updated to include wheelchair access. A court case ensued, and the theatre lost. The costs would have been $700,000 for the alterations, and in a time of dwindling theatre attendance, the funds could not be justified. {…} the theatre was sold, and it was closed on September 14.
Taylor, Doug. “Loew’s Uptown.” Toronto Theatres and the Golden Age of the Silver Screen. History Press, 2014.
Date: 1935-37.
Children at Dress Rehearsal - Dec. 24, 1924.
